Bookmarks of the space and time continuum are transparently and yet indelibly marked by each Super Bowl. It is the final game of every NFL season and it marks the end of the previous year’s sports season. It is when men are legally required to tally the chits of the decisions that we made in our youth.
The earliest strains of Yard DNA can be traced to the Super Bowl Sundays of the 70’s and 80’s. Gator, Ricardo, Raja, Shack, Swaney, Hackney, Finn and the rest of the Yard boys from these seminal moments will always be embedded in the double helix spirit of this Sunday. Decoding the Roman Numerals of the game is getting into some murky waters but the Yard concedes that the game is worth the math.
Trivia: UCLA has had two QB’s start in the Super Bowl while the vaunted Trojans have never had a USC quarterback play a single down in Super Bowl history. Who were the Bruins?
The Yard roots for Arizona and there is no better story in the NFL than Kurt Warner this year. He is a humble man, who has remarkable skills and we all thought he had retired two years ago. He met his wife while at University of Northern Iowa when she already had two kids, one that was seriously disabled. They married and had two more kids. Along the way he got released from the Packers, worked for $5.50 an hour at a supermarket, played in the Arena Football League, won the Super Bowl with the former Los Angeles Rams and now is back in the big game. He is a 37 year old father who genuinely puts family first while winning the starting QB job over a 25 year old 1st round Heisman trophy winning fraternity father who genuinely puts beer bongs first. Kurt Warner’s story was amazing fifteen years and four sentences ago.
Pittsburgh will win and cover. The Birds were on a roll but a two week lay off is not what they needed. The Cardinals needed to play the Steelers on January 25th not February 1. The 2007 Rockies swept everyone right into the World Series winning seven games in 13 days. The Red Sox grinded through a seven games series with the Indians being down 3-1 at one point. The Rockies had seven days off before the World Series began. The Red Sox had three. It took the Red Sox the next five days to sweep the Rockies. When emotionally charged teams are put on the shelf, it is hard for them to get the mojo back.
The Steelers are grinders. They do not win on emotion, they win with emotion. And they win because of Troy Polamalu. With Polamalu playing safety, everyone else on the Steeler defense can take chances in front of him. It will be grand theater with Larry Fitzgerald, Warner and the Cardinal aerial attack. The story will not have a happy ending for our feathered friends. The Cardinals will be playing from behind, taking chances, and succumbing to late turnovers. The Steel Town wins those kinds of games and covers late. The Cardinals were on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the wrong time.
BTW: UCLA QB John Sciarra started at safety for his UCLA/Eagle coach Dick Vermeil in the 1981 Super Bowl. At UCLA, they upset Woody Hayes and his undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes during my freshman year. Bruin Troy Aikman won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys as well.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Pete has jumped the Shark!
Pete Carroll jumped the shark last Thursday afternoon. For those Yardomites unfamiliar with the term, it refers to that moment when Fonzie jumped the shark on Happy Days. It was out of character for the Fonz and it was out of the ordinary to see our local college football icon Peter C. reveal himself to us. He stewed and morphed into bitter Betty before all of our eyes in real time on the local news.
The Yard is an unlikely fan of the USC head football coach. He is preternaturally brilliant with the team, the media and alumni. He seems to always have unique, genuine sound bites when he is interviewed. And he has delivered the myopic Trojan faithful back to their cardinal and gold Xanadu. He is the current prince of this city.
Mark Sanchez, USC 4th year Junior QB, did the unthinkable and declared early for the NFL draft. Carson Palmer stayed for Pete and Norm Chow coaxed him to the Heisman podium. Matt Leinart already had won the Heisman and a National Championship by his junior year. Matt Leinart was the Duke of the City living huge, hanging with Nick Lachey, banging Paris Hilton and hitting the 901 three nights a week. He was not going anywhere with that gig. We understand that he is petitioning for another year to finish his ceramics degree. And no one cared when Reggie Bush declared early for all the reasons that will come to trial in June.
For the first time in the post Norm Chow era, Pete now has to groom a quarterback without Norm, Steve or Lane. He has to find that special someone who will pursue the dream, embrace the myopia and deliver another national title. But alas, there is no true savior in the wings as there has always been throughout his tenure as the USC head coach. With Sanchez barking the signals, USC is preseason National Champion and they get Oregon State at home next year. With all of the skill players are coming back, the legend of Pete would have been cemented with the legendary greats locally and nationally. It may still be but Petey cried and flipped the game board during his press conference tantrum on Thursday afternoon. Just go to You Tube and search Pete Carroll.
Carroll came across like a scorned lover not the unbiased counselor advising his protégés on their future. This objective mentor is the persona he paints with the local media. Pete revealed more about himself with his rant and demeanor at yesterday’s press conference than he had in the 617 press conferences that preceded it. Elliot Spitzer’s wife looked happier standing next to the disgraced governor than Pete did standing next to Mark. And Mark did his part thanking everyone but Pete for helping him make the decision
Sanchez will graduate with his class this June. He will sign a guaranteed NFL contract for at least $2-3 million a year for three years. Are there any of the other SC graduates in the Class of 2009 who will get a better contract after graduation? His USC experience served him in preparation for his future. People who say the money will always be there either never had that chance or do not understand the opportunity cost of money. If Sanchez goes back for one year, he will never again have the chance to earn the money he can earn in 2009. He will have chances to earn money but he will give up the chance to earn those millions FOREVER!! The risk is in going back to USC not declaring for the NFL. Mr. Sanchez must have really appreciated Pete Carroll publicly telling all of his future employers that he was not ready for their opportunity.
Westwood applauds Mr. Sanchez prudent decision on leaving USC early. We had hoped Taylor Mays had declared as well has most of the USC offensive line. We wish Steve Sarkisian the best in Seattle and we sincerely hope that Pete continues his journey to seek redemption for his previous failures in the NFL.
And in the end, The Yard can not ignore the prison shower scene the Utah Utes received in the final BCS rankings. There is nothing that they did all season that would disprove their claim to the title of the best college football team in the land. They absolutely pierced the Crimson Tide from the coin flip to the final gun in the Sugar Bowl. They beat them down more convincingly than Florida did thirty days earlier. Everyone else had a chance but no one but the Utes won all of their games. In the first half of the Rose Bowl, the Trojans showed the nation their argument why they should have been in the Championship game. They dominated Penn State with efficiency and purpose. In the second half, Troy showed why they were playing in Pasadena and not Miami. Florida did what they had to do against Oklahoma to win the championship. They did not prove that they would have beaten the Utes this January 8th in Miami.
The Yard is an unlikely fan of the USC head football coach. He is preternaturally brilliant with the team, the media and alumni. He seems to always have unique, genuine sound bites when he is interviewed. And he has delivered the myopic Trojan faithful back to their cardinal and gold Xanadu. He is the current prince of this city.
Mark Sanchez, USC 4th year Junior QB, did the unthinkable and declared early for the NFL draft. Carson Palmer stayed for Pete and Norm Chow coaxed him to the Heisman podium. Matt Leinart already had won the Heisman and a National Championship by his junior year. Matt Leinart was the Duke of the City living huge, hanging with Nick Lachey, banging Paris Hilton and hitting the 901 three nights a week. He was not going anywhere with that gig. We understand that he is petitioning for another year to finish his ceramics degree. And no one cared when Reggie Bush declared early for all the reasons that will come to trial in June.
For the first time in the post Norm Chow era, Pete now has to groom a quarterback without Norm, Steve or Lane. He has to find that special someone who will pursue the dream, embrace the myopia and deliver another national title. But alas, there is no true savior in the wings as there has always been throughout his tenure as the USC head coach. With Sanchez barking the signals, USC is preseason National Champion and they get Oregon State at home next year. With all of the skill players are coming back, the legend of Pete would have been cemented with the legendary greats locally and nationally. It may still be but Petey cried and flipped the game board during his press conference tantrum on Thursday afternoon. Just go to You Tube and search Pete Carroll.
Carroll came across like a scorned lover not the unbiased counselor advising his protégés on their future. This objective mentor is the persona he paints with the local media. Pete revealed more about himself with his rant and demeanor at yesterday’s press conference than he had in the 617 press conferences that preceded it. Elliot Spitzer’s wife looked happier standing next to the disgraced governor than Pete did standing next to Mark. And Mark did his part thanking everyone but Pete for helping him make the decision
Sanchez will graduate with his class this June. He will sign a guaranteed NFL contract for at least $2-3 million a year for three years. Are there any of the other SC graduates in the Class of 2009 who will get a better contract after graduation? His USC experience served him in preparation for his future. People who say the money will always be there either never had that chance or do not understand the opportunity cost of money. If Sanchez goes back for one year, he will never again have the chance to earn the money he can earn in 2009. He will have chances to earn money but he will give up the chance to earn those millions FOREVER!! The risk is in going back to USC not declaring for the NFL. Mr. Sanchez must have really appreciated Pete Carroll publicly telling all of his future employers that he was not ready for their opportunity.
Westwood applauds Mr. Sanchez prudent decision on leaving USC early. We had hoped Taylor Mays had declared as well has most of the USC offensive line. We wish Steve Sarkisian the best in Seattle and we sincerely hope that Pete continues his journey to seek redemption for his previous failures in the NFL.
And in the end, The Yard can not ignore the prison shower scene the Utah Utes received in the final BCS rankings. There is nothing that they did all season that would disprove their claim to the title of the best college football team in the land. They absolutely pierced the Crimson Tide from the coin flip to the final gun in the Sugar Bowl. They beat them down more convincingly than Florida did thirty days earlier. Everyone else had a chance but no one but the Utes won all of their games. In the first half of the Rose Bowl, the Trojans showed the nation their argument why they should have been in the Championship game. They dominated Penn State with efficiency and purpose. In the second half, Troy showed why they were playing in Pasadena and not Miami. Florida did what they had to do against Oklahoma to win the championship. They did not prove that they would have beaten the Utes this January 8th in Miami.
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